One week last month we took off to The Big City for a mid-January change of pace. Contrary to what many may think Vancouver in January is like, the days we were there were sunny and glorious and we spent many hours walking around, hanging out at the market, shops and art galleries of Granville Island, visiting friends and finding outstanding meals at city restaurants. The latter activity is particularly vital as it needs to carry us through our time with the less than stellar eateries in our part of the world (our own kitchen excepted, I might say). We stayed at our usual place in the West End and I soon found a few new smile-making additions to the neighborhood since we were there last summer.